


Syndicate

by CanineR7A7



Category: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Family Dynamics, Force-Sensitive Original Character(s), Mercenaries and Bounty Hunters are not the same thing, Other, Post-Episode: s05e20 The Wrong Jedi, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-14
Updated: 2019-04-26
Packaged: 2019-10-10 09:17:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17423126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CanineR7A7/pseuds/CanineR7A7
Summary: When Ahsoka left the order, many thought she would leave the war – of course she wouldn’t, she’s Ahsoka Tano. After finding a group of mercenaries who fight the war in the shadows, Ahsoka finds a reason to keep fighting.Everything would be simple except for a few small details:-	A force-sensitive who was never found by the Jedi-	Force powers that she never knew she possessed-	A hidden truth to the war that shatters all views on right and wrong





	1. Chapter 1

Ahsoka didn’t know what to do now, she knew leaving the Jedi was the best possible decision she could’ve made, she only wished she’d had more time to plan her next move. She’d managed to catch a ship traveling to one of planets on the very edge of Republic space, the planet was a desert one, though it was nowhere near as bad as Tatooine. This one was nowhere near as hot, and from the brief information she’d been told by the merchant who brought her here, it had more towns and a large central city. Why so many people would live on a desert planet she didn’t know, but at least it meant she hadn’t impulsively travelled to one with no population.

“Where to start?” She asked herself aloud as her gaze scanned the strip of buildings, some were made of sandstone, others from imported materials, but the vast majority were wooden and seemed to sway slightly in the wind – she’d hate to see how they handled an actual storm. Her gaze eventually caught on one that was a weird mix of stone, wood, and animal-skin sheets. The group of drunken men swaying outside it made it recognisable as the saloon. She headed over silently, easily sidestepping one of the men as he collapsed from drinking too much.

“Hey! Get back here!” She saw a rodiah dart out another doorway at the other end of the building, a sullustan following soon afterwards, deciding it wasn’t worth interfering, she headed over to a lone table in the corner and sat down to observe the rest of the crowd. A small group of bothans and cathars were gambling in one of the booths, a shootout was likely to happen soon if the amount of yelling was any indication.

“You might want to duck.” A voice said close to her montral, she turned in her seat to see a weequay next to her. She watched him duck under the table and decided it would be best to play along for now. Merely seconds after she ducked the sound of blaster-fire filled the cramped room, she stood up once it had stopped and saw the gamblers cowering in front of a figure with a very menacing-looking gun.

“I’m only saying this once, hand it over.” She watched as one of the bothans tossed the figure a battered-looking briefcase, the figure glanced over to them – face covered by a cloth mask.

“We got what we came for.” Ahsoka turned to face the Weequay, his smile easily giving away that he was who the stranger was talking to.

“Let’s go then.” He laughed as he walked towards his partner, stopping halfway to face her.

“You coming?” He spoke as though they were old friends and she had a passing thought of Hondo and his crew. Shaking the thought off, she hesitantly followed the two strangers, deciding she could easily get away if she needed to. They led her down a sequence of alleyways before reaching the spaceport she’d arrived from earlier. There were ten figures crowded near the ramp of a YV-929 Armed Freighter, a rather large anooba sleeping next to it.

“Boss, they’re back.” The one standing directly at the bottom of the ramp headed over to them. Their armour looked like a strange combination of mandalorian and clone trooper armour with other pieces mixed in – It was mostly slate-grey with red markings, the helmet was unlike anything she’d seen before, it followed the same colour scheme as the rest of the armour with a single strip at the front that must be a visor, a red light was fixed directly above and below it.

“Who’s this?” They must have a voice filter if the metallic hint to their voice was any indication.

“Newcomer, figured she’d be safer with us.” The weequay answered as he handed the case to a trandoshan standing just behind the leader.

“I guess introductions are in order.” The figure removed their helmet, revealing a blonde haired woman with deep blue eyes.

“Name’s Ahrk Ryers, leader of Syndicate.” Ahsoka assumed Syndicate was the name of the group in front of her; she returned the woman’s handshake.

“Ahsoka Tano.” She saw recognition glint briefly in the woman’s eyes.

“The jedi who was wrongly accused of terrorism, never thought I’d actually meet ya’.” There was a jovial hint to her voice, a sign that she was trying to make her feel better about it.

“Anyway, this is my crew. The weequay behind you is Yars Kriddenz, the guy in the mask is Tavken Granil. Guy who’s just gone to put the case away is Nark Gar. The rather deadly crew of mandalorians over there are; Druz Trangh, Nux Zak, Issani Skors, and Mia Stokuk. The togruta siblings; Hozaam and Cattaa Rish. Then there’s those two, Dekaru Sturos and Alemalc Vanemau.” Ahsoka was very glad she was used to remembering a so many names at once, Ahrk gestured to the ship.

“Alright people, let’s move it.” The others all headed up the ramp, the anooba following after them.

“C’mon Tano, we can talk more when we’re not on this dust heap.” She followed after them and watched the ramp door close.


	2. Chapter 2

Ahsoka didn’t know much about YV-929s, only that the one she was standing in was most likely a prototype, and probably not large enough for twelve people to live comfortably in, ten? Yes twelve? No. She followed the group to the parlour; three of them had split off though she had a feeling she wouldn’t have to wait long for them to show up. They sat at the larger table near the galley, the anooba curling up beneath it. Nark, Mia and Yars joined them moments later, the latter holding a crate of random alcohol bottles under his arm.

“So you had roll-call just, and I’m guessing you’ve figured out who’s who. But for the sake of decency we should probably do proper introductions.” Ahrk stated as she grabbed one of the bottles.

“I’ve already introduced myself but you probably want my story.” At Ahsoka’s nod, the woman took a swig of the dark liquid and leaned back in her chair.

“Used to be a militia commander, now I’m a merc, you’ll get the rest later if it’s relevant.” The leader took another swig and passed the bottle over to the Zabrak sitting next to her, his skin was somewhere between orange and yellow, black markings stopping just above his elbows and orange eyes.

“I’m Dekaru Sturos, petty thief turned freedom fighter.” He tried to say it in a joking manner but there was an awkwardness to his tone and posture, she shrugged it off for now. He took a swig from the bottle, narrowly avoiding coughing as he handed it to the male togruta.

“Hozaam Rish, former labour slave, now I’m just a merchant of sorts.” His tone was biting at the word slave, as though he’d had to force himself to spit it out – after the Zygerria mission? Yeah she didn’t blame him. His skin was a light shade of blue while his montrals and lekku were a dull orange colour, his white markings stretched down both of his arms. He took a hefty swig and handed the bottle to the female togruta beside him, purple eyes not once leaving the doorway.

“Cattaa Rish, former slave and this knucklehead’s sister.” Her montrals, lekku and markings were exactly the same as her brother’s, the only differences being her cyan skin and magenta eyes. She took a small sip from the bottle and handed it to one of the male humans.

“Name’s Tavken Granil, pilot.” He was fair-skinned with brown hair spiking upwards, sideburns trailing down his jaw and a small patch of hair forming a beard on his chin, his eyes were a bright blue and carried a mischievous spark, she could see tattoos along his arms forming the outline of some kind of armour, she doubted that would help him much but chose to keep quiet. He downed a good portion of the bottle, hardly leaving more than a mouthful. He handed the bottle to the tan skinned man next to him.

“Alemalc Vanemau.” He stated simply, his jaw had a fair amount of stubble; the rest of his black hair was a shaggy mess. He had one brown eye, the other covered by some kind of implant, the two scars she could see beneath it easily revealing its purpose. He drank what was left of the bottle and pulled another out of the crate, handing it to the Weequay.

“Yars Kriddenz, former pirate, now a pirate.” He had a single braid of hair growing from the back of his head, from what she could tell he was probably the same age as her. He downed a few mouthfuls before handing it to the trandoshan.

“Nark Ga.” He had grey scales with a blue stripe running along his head and she could see it continued down the back of his neck when he turned to glare at Yars, he had a few more blue markings forming half-circles below his eyes. Honestly? She’d been a bit wary of trandoshans after being hunted for sport that one time, though Nark didn’t seem that bad. He took a single swig and passed it to one of the other humans.

“Name’s Druz Trangh, Mandalorian.” His blonde hair was shaved close to his scalp, blue eyes sharp in the way that only combat could cause. He downed some of the bottle and handed it to the man beside him.

“Nux Zak.” He was dark haired and had a kind face, though it was clear he was Mandalorian and Ahsoka knew not to underestimate Mandalorians. He took a couple of swigs and handed it to the brown haired woman next to him.

“Name’s Issani Skors, former Mandalorian guard.” Her tone was gruff when she said that, it didn’t take a genius to figure out that she didn’t stop by choice. She downed almost the entirety of what was left and slid it over to the final crew member.

“I’m Mia Stokuk, best damn pilot this side of Mandalore.” Her black hair fell in a braid over her shoulder. She passed the bottle to Ahsoka, not bothering to take a sip.

“I’m Ahsoka Tano, former Jedi, now… I don’t really know what I am now.” She chose not to have a drink, instead pushing the bottle back to Ahrk, whose eyes had gained an understanding gaze.

“You’ll figure it out soon enough, the anooba’s name is Rydian, I guess I’ll have his drink for him.” She laughed as she drank what was left, putting the bottle back in the crate before standing up.

“Right people, one more planet then we head back to camp. Mia you’re the pilot this time. Druz, Nux, gunner positions. I’ll head up to the cockpit when I’ve shown Tano where she’ll be staying.” The group all stood up; Druz, Mia and Nux heading to their assignments while the others filtered off to do their own thing.

“There’s only really enough room for ten of us to have a bed in the actual quarters, but some of us prefer sleeping elsewhere. The Mandalorian’s share one room, Druz has to make do with a bedroll, probably why he’s cranky with Nux most of the time. Dekaru and Yars share another; they’re about the same age as you. Nark prefers sleeping in the engine room, I guess cause it’s warmer? I dunno. Alemalc sleeps in one cargo hold, Tavken sleeps in the other – Alemalc cause he likes keeping an eye on the freight entrance, pardon the pun, Tavken only really sleeps when we’re planetside. I use another room, I’d offer to share but I don’t think you’d want Rydian waking you up every few hours. So that just leaves Cattaa and Hozaam’s room.” Ahsoka followed the woman to one of the rooms closest to the boarding ramp; she knocked on the door which slid open after a few seconds. Cattaa was sat at the lone desk in the corner seemingly more relaxed than earlier.

“Tano’ll be rooming with you two, if that’s okay?” Cattaa smiled politely and nodded, Ahrk tilting her head in a slight bow.

“I need to check on a few things, I’ll leave you two ladies to it.” She headed off, leaving the two togrutas alone.

“You’re the one, aren’t you?” Ahsoka furrowed her brow in confusion, the one what?

“The one who saved that village, on Kiros.”Oh, was she one of the villagers?

“Yes, but I didn’t do it alone.” She answered simply, though she could tell the other togruta already knew that. Before they could speak any further, Hozaam entered the room, he didn’t seem surprised by their presence so Ahrk must’ve already told him the arrangement.

“You can have the top bunk.” The man stated as he pulled two bags from it before shoving them under the desk. Ahsoka smiled thankfully at him, he returned it hesitantly before sitting on the bottom one – Ahsoka was guessing the central one was Cattaa’s.

“So, a few things I should explain. Ahrk would do it but it’s quicker for me to go over them now.” Ahsoka merely nodded.

“Firstly, as you’ve probably noticed, Ahrk calls us by our first names and you by your last; she’ll keep doing that until you say it’s fine to use your actual name, something she was taught growing up.” Ahsoka made a mental note to tell her soon, being called ‘Tano’ sounded too formal.

“Secondly, Dekaru is a bit skittish around the subject of jedi, his parents convinced him they were evil. Though he knows they’re not now, he still gets uncomfortable whenever they’re brought up.” That seemed reasonable enough.

“Lastly, as you’ve probably noticed, my sister here is a bit skittish when she’s close to a large number of people – even if she’s close to them. I only ask that you try and get her out of those situations if you think she’s struggling.” She could tell he cared deeply about her.

“I will.” Though she said this facing Cattaa instead of her brother. Seemingly happy with her answer, Hozaam backed off.

“There are a few other things but they’re not important right now.” The three of them went to bed not long after.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reference image for the ship:  
> http://photobucket.com/gallery/user/t_sunday/media/cGF0aDovWVYtOTI5TGlnaHRGcmVpZ2h0ZXItU2NoZW1hdGljLmpwZw==/?ref=


	3. Chapter 3

They all gathered near the boarding ramp, Ahsoka noticed that Ahrk and the Mandalorians were the only ones wearing armour, she’d asked Hozaam about it but he’d reassured her it was only because they weren’t there to cause much trouble.

“Right, Cattaa, Dekaru, Mia and Nux’ll stay here and watch the ship. Everyone else, we’re looking for work so try not to get yourselves arrested. Remember if you hear anything make a note of it, even if it doesn’t fit in our moral code it might be worth checking out.” After a brief conversation with Yars, she’d learned that ‘checking out’ meant ensuring that other mercenaries didn’t get the chance to take the job; she hadn’t asked what that meant.

“Tan- Ahsoka, sorry, I want you to stick with me.” Ahsoka smiled briefly when the former-commander corrected herself, Ahrk pulled a small vibroblade from the sheath strapped to her shin. She considered the weapon briefly before handing it to Ahsoka.

“You were a Jedi but I don’t see a lightsaber on you, we’ll get you a blaster or something when we get back to the Graveyard.” She could tell Ahrk wasn’t talking about a literal graveyard; she slotted the vibroblade in her belt and pulled the mask over her face as she followed the merc, Rydian prowling closely behind them.

“So what exactly are we looking for?” She could tell Ahrk wasn’t actually looking for work, though she didn’t know about the others.

“As you already know, we do have a moral code that prevents us from assisting with the transportation of slaves or anything similar. But there is one service that we don’t make public knowledge.” They ducked into a small alleyway; Ahrk pulled out a data-pad and showed Ahsoka an image of a clone trooper, then one of an injured citizen.

“Anyone seeking to leave the war, be it a clone or civilian, we offer assistance to. If it’s a civilian, we’ll see if they have anywhere they want to go, otherwise we’ll relocate them to a peaceful planet. If it’s a clone or some kind of soldier, we’ll just relocate them unless they say otherwise.” That seemed reasonable enough, after serving with the 501st she knew that there were some clones who didn’t want to fight.

“There’s a couple of clones we’re relocating now.” She nodded briefly and followed the merc to a run-down looking building on the edge of town. They walked through the empty doorway and saw three clones, the central on in the green of the 41st, Ahsoka tried not to think of Barriss. The three troopers faced them, obviously not keen on speaking until they knew who they were.

“Name’s Zealot, this is Ashla. I’m your contact.” The clones relaxed marginally, the central one – clearly an ARC – removed his helmet. His hair had been shaved close to his scalp and his jaw was shadowed by stubble.

“My designation is ARC-6574, my brothers call me Arrow. The two behind me are CT-4128, Lock and CT-1867, Key.” The other two wore standard issue clone armour, the only difference being their names written in grey across their chest pieces.

“Alright, so is it transport for three people?” Arrow merely shook his head.

“I’ll be returning to the war shortly, I only came to ensure they got out of it alright.” Ahsoka wasn’t entirely surprised, ARCs were some of the best soldiers in the GAR and the vast majority of them either craved combat or were willing to stick it out in the place of other clones.

“Alright then, you know how to reach us if you change your mind.” Arrow nodded sharply and turned to face the clones behind him.

“So long brothers.” The three saluted each other before Lock and Key headed outside.

“If you don’t mind me asking, where will you be taking them?” Both of them could tell he was only asking out of concern for his brothers.

“My home planet, it’s in the far reaches of the outer rim, it’s far out enough that most people either don’t know it exists or they think it’s just a legend. Security’s pretty good and very few people know there’s a war going on, your brothers will be safe.” Arrow nodded in thanks and hefted his rifle over his shoulder. The three of them headed out, Arrow turning sharply to the left before heading off without another word. The four of them watched him leave before returning to the ship.

 

 

Reference images of Arrow thanks to ArcticFox1987 (unfortunately there isn't an ARC variant):

 

   


End file.
